“Gasp!”
Caught off guard by Cruello’s sudden action, I squeezed my eyes shut and held my breath.
The water wasn’t even deep enough to reach half a person’s height, yet it felt strangely bottomless.
I was completely submerged.
But I didn’t have to hold out for long.
“Puhah?”
The water pressing against my body suddenly disappeared.
Rubbing my eyes with my fingers, I cautiously lifted my eyelids.
Droplets fell from my eyelashes, landing on my cheeks.
“Where is this…?”
Had there been a gate beneath the fountain?
The space around me was entirely different from the park I had just been in.
It was pitch dark, making it hard to see, yet an odd sense of familiarity crept in.
Cruello spoke.
“You’ve been here before, haven’t you?”
“Here? I… wait a minute, this place—!”
The moment he said it, I remembered.
Whipping my head around, I saw a long corridor and magical lamps scattered across the ceiling, glowing faintly.
“The information guild from before? What the hell? Why is this connected here?”
“Of course, I linked it. This guild belongs to me.”
I was at a loss for words.
Cruello stepped away from me and snapped his fingers.
The darkness vanished, and the room was instantly bathed in light, revealing the space’s full layout.
“What kind of reckless guild would dare sell my information just because someone recited a cipher?”
“…You’re an actual scam artist!”
“Your reaction is so fierce; I’m delighted. My darling is too innocent—it's almost pitiful.”
Says the man who had a great time fooling me.
Laughing, Cruello snapped his fingers a few more times.
The fireplace—so dark before that I hadn’t even noticed it—suddenly lit up, and a solid wall cracked open, revealing a hidden door.
He stepped in and out of the passage as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
In his hand was a towel.
“I was being considerate back then, too, you know. You were curious, so I let you wonder.”
He walked toward me, pressing his hands gently on my shoulders.
I was guided to a sofa just behind me, and before I could protest, he began drying my dripping wet hair with the towel.
It seemed like he was trying to make up for things.
Not enough.
Do more.
“Fine, I get it. But why the hell did you connect a permanent gate to a park fountain? How often do you even go there?”
A permanent gate was exactly what it sounded like—a gateway that could be used indefinitely.
Technically, it was semi-permanent.
Creating one was a nightmare, yet destroying one was easy, so people usually hid them in secret passageways.
So why the hell would he make one there and waste it like this?
“Hm? That’s just a diversion.”
“It’s not a permanent gate?”
“It is. But the entrance isn’t actually the fountain.”
The moment he said that, my gaze dropped.
Something shimmered in my hand, a color different from usual.
“…An engagement ring?”
“If you rub it, you’ll be transported here.”
Hah. No wonder he handed me that ring so randomly back there.
Cruello’s voice carried a hint of laughter.
“I promised to keep you safe, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, well, thanks to that, those guys are probably tearing apart the fountain for nothing.”
That was kind of satisfying.
Even though the fireplace was burning, it was already the start of winter, and my wet clothes left me shivering.
I rubbed my arms.
Cruello set the towel aside, stepped into another room, and returned.
This time, he held a blanket.
“But wasn’t that assassination attempt too sloppy? They fired a lot of arrows, sure, but that was it.”
“Well, it was a showpiece assassination, after all.”
Cruello wrapped the blanket tightly around me.
I expected the damp clothes underneath to feel uncomfortable, but the blanket absorbed the moisture immediately.
Had he cast a spell on it?
“The Elder Council knows I’m not an idiot. If I just sat around doing nothing, they’d start getting suspicious. This was probably their way of testing the waters while keeping the tension low.”
“Yeah… if they were serious, they would’ve attacked when you were alone.”
Cruello brought out a few more blankets and wrapped me up like a snowman.
As warmth seeped into my body, my mood slowly improved.
But something felt strange.
“Wouldn’t it have been easier to attack me when I was alone?”
They didn’t know my combat skills at all, so it was weird that they hadn’t even tried.
Did they really intend to kill me?
Cruello answered, completely unfazed.
“That would be boring.”
“What?”
“Don’t get the wrong idea. I don’t mean that your death would be boring.”
This time, Cruello headed toward a cabinet.
A mug, a chocolate pot, milk, and soft marshmallows.
That was a perfect combination—how did he know my preferences?
I was about to grow suspicious when I remembered that I was sitting inside an information guild.
“A proper stage makes misfortune all the more tragic.”
I accepted the cup he handed me.
The warmth rising from it melted away my tension.
It was too hot to drink immediately, though.
“What do you mean?”
“The servants who were close to my parents died on the same day I was appointed as the heir.”
Ah, this was a story that would’ve made me choke if I had taken a sip first.
“They needed to gather as much negative energy as possible.”
“……”
“Now that I’m back here, I remember—you were shocked at how many fiancées I had, weren’t you?”
Cruello chuckled.
“To be fair, it wasn’t my doing. They were all just sacrifices to misfortune.”
I couldn’t pretend to know everything, but I understood the gist.
The Elder Council had orchestrated an endless cycle of tragedy to shape Cruello’s nature, making him better suited to control Morion.
That was why, when I was Amy, I had tried to surround him with positive emotions instead.
In the end, I had failed.
“The later ones had it better. In the beginning, I didn’t understand much, so they died before I could do anything.”
“One entered a monastery. Five were settled through negotiations. Two fell ill. Two died.”
So all those engagements had been part of it, too.
I let out a quiet sigh, and the steam rising from my mug blurred in the air.
“That’s how rumors spread that I was cursed. Is it too hot?”
“A little.”
Cruello moved his hand again.
Tiny ice crystals formed midair and dropped into the chocolate.
“I wasn’t planning to take the conversation in such a dark direction. So, are you feeling better now?”
Wouldn’t it be weirder to be angry in this situation?
Surely, he hadn’t brought this up on purpose just to distract me.
With a somewhat conflicted feeling, I gave a small nod.
Only then did Cruello sit down on the sofa opposite me.
Unlike me, he didn’t seem the least bit unsettled—that in itself was fascinating.
“The engagement ceremony is right around the corner. I suppose it’s time we got to the real topic.”
Crossing his legs, Cruello gave me a soft smile.
“Let’s talk about how to find Morion.”
***
Time stacked upon time, and before I knew it, the day of my engagement had arrived.
‘That day was the engagement day of Siora Bonetti.’
If I were to alter Fate, this is how it would read.
The engagement ceremony was set to take place at the White Desert Duke’s estate.
The one officiating the ceremony was Count Goldenstove, Cruello’s childhood mentor.
I had met him often when I was Amy, but seeing him now felt strange.
Then again, the fact that I was having an engagement ceremony here at all was several times stranger.
“The shawl stands out too much, Siora.”
The carriage from the Duke’s estate was already waiting in front of the Count’s residence.
Traditionally, the bride-to-be would ride a carriage sent by the groom’s family, so I was set to depart first.
Minuet was giving me one final inspection.
“I’ll leave it in the carriage.”
“Well then. We’ll be heading out soon, so see you there.”
Gavotte let out a deep sigh, his expression filled with disapproval.
He stepped closer and whispered in my ear.
“If you want to run, just say the word—even halfway through.”
He still hadn’t given up.
Persistent.
I glanced at the Count one last time, but his sullen face was enough to make me turn away.
As soon as I climbed into the carriage, the wheels began to turn.
It wasn’t even a wedding, yet this felt disturbingly strange.
“Ugh…”
Feeling suffocated, I reached for the window curtain, but it was firmly fixed in place, refusing to budge.
Had White Desert’s carriages always been like this?
Well, it didn’t really matter.
I leaned against the backrest, zoning out as I waited to arrive.
The wheels rolled smoothly over the paved road.
Some time passed like that.
“…Did I miscalculate?”
Just as I tilted my head in confusion, the moment I had been waiting for arrived.
The smooth ride turned uneven as if we had veered off the paved road.
And then—
Hisssss.
A strange smoke began seeping in through the cracks of the carriage door.
My eyelids grew heavy.
Out of habit, I knocked on the driver’s seat a few times, but I barely had time to register the lack of response before my vision went dark.
***
Everyone from the Bonetti family, except for Siora, had arrived at the White Desert Duke’s estate.
The Countess was still in recovery and had planned to travel to the capital only for the wedding itself.
Gavotte frowned as he stepped into the ridiculously large mansion.
‘To think I’d have to meet that duke under these circumstances.’
Fate could be truly cruel.
Shaking his head, he made his way toward the waiting room where Siora was supposed to be.
But when he entered, the room was empty.
She had said she would wait here.
Just as he was about to double-check whether he had the wrong room, a hand landed on his shoulder.
“Looking for your sister?”
“Siora—hey!”
The moment he turned his head, a finger poked him right on the cheek.
Gavotte nearly yelled, but he managed to hold his voice back just in time.
Even if he wasn’t thrilled about this engagement, proper decorum still had to be maintained.
“Haha! Look at Gavotte’s face!”
“Aren’t you nervous at all?”
“Huh? Is my little brother nervous? Are you fidgeting again? Is your heart about to explode?”
“Can’t you learn to read the room?”
Gavotte let out a resigned sigh.
“Where’s the duke?”
“No idea. I saw him earlier, but he should be back soon.”
“Anyway, that bastard… never mind. You do remember what I told you earlier, don’t you?”
“What did Gavotte say again? That you love me?”
Siora teased him with a completely innocent expression.
He scowled, ready to snap back, but then he frowned.
Something felt… off.
“What is it, Gavotte?”
“If you really don’t want this, run.”
“Wow. I didn’t expect you to say that even on the day of the engagement.”
“You…”
“Alright, alright, dear brother. The ceremony is about to begin, so go on now.”
Siora waved at him with a bright smile.
Gavotte opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it and left the waiting room.
Something still didn’t feel right…
‘It must be my imagination.’
The engagement ceremony was about to begin.
Gavotte continued walking, quietly soothing his restless spirit.
“Calm down, Pianissimo. I can’t summon you here. We can’t make a scene.”